If you’ve read any of my books, you know about the biblical significance of the number seven. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. The seventh day would forever stand as a sign of the covenant (see Exodus 31:16-17). He invited mankind to enter into His rest—to enter into a […]
Most people have heard of the Early Church Fathers, but the Mothers of the Church. . . there’s a category of saints we hear less often. In part, that is due to the fact that not many of the early Christian women wrote. Yet that should not obscure the important contribution women made to the early Church.
The Early Church. . . Mothers? Mike Aquilina’s Fascinating New Book (w/ Podcast!) Read More »
Today is the feast of St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon (d. 202 AD),arguably the first systematic theologian in the Church. In his youth, he learned from St. Polycarp who was a student of the Apostle John. Irenaeus’ teaching is still very important in the Church more than 1800 years later; he is explicitly cited 24
The Churchs First Theologian Read More »
Today’s saint, Cyril of Alexandria, is both a Father and a Doctor of the Church. The titles are a grace, of course, but he worked hard to correspond to them. He was the nephew of his predecessor as Patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt. He likely spent his youth in a monastery before his uncle drafted
In America the most widely used English version of the Bible by Catholics is the New American Bible. Its popularity is largely due to the fact that it is this version of Scripture that is read at Mass on Sunday. Last year a revised edition was released that re-worked the Old Testament. It has not
Bishops Announce New Translation of the New Testament Read More »
With the big discovery of some of his lost homilies on the Psalms in the news, I decided to focus on Origen in this week’s episode of The Sacred Page Podcast. Below is a .pdf containing an outline and notes of this presentation, with references to primary sources cited. The-Sacred-Page-Podcast on Origen
Origen and His Influence on Christian Theology Read More »
“Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival … with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:8). Saint Paul wrote that line about the Christian Passover, the feast of the victory of the Lamb of God. But he would certainly forgive me for applying it to the feast day he shares with Saint Peter
I’ve written a bit on Origen in the past (e.g., here). He’s one of my favorite early Christian writers. He’s also one of Pope Benedict’s favorites. In his catechetical series on the fathers, Benedict XVI spent two lectures on Origen (many only got one). Well, now we have more of Origen than ever before. In
Lost Homilies of Origen Found! Read More »
Exciting news! Anyone familiar with the Dead Sea Scrolls can tell you that portions of nearly every book in the Hebrew Bible are represented in these ancient texts discovered in caves near the Dead Sea. The only exceptions were the Book of Esther and the Book of Nehemiah; scholars assumed the latter had been written
First copy of Nehemiah found in unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls! Read More »
Honored & humbled to receive the “Fr. Michael Scanlan Chair of Biblical Theology and the New Evangelization” here at FUS: STEUBENVILLE, OH—Recognizing him as a singular gift to the Catholic Church, Franciscan University of Steubenville awarded the Father Michael Scanlan, TOR, Chair of Biblical Theology and the New Evangelization to world-renowned Scripture scholar, theologian, author,
Fr. Michael Scanlan Chair of Biblical Theology and the New Evangelization Read More »
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